Woah, it has been a minute. The last quarter of the year for me was full of questions, finding answers, and then questioning those answers again. But the biggest part? My increased tendency to just STEP INTO ACTION.
Sometimes, you just need to trust your gut, or look at your indecision and realize, how is this actually helping me?
And my answer to that question after the first few weeks of 2021 was to just put the ideas I had into motion. And recently, my idea was to recommit to my creativity.
I have been facing a ton of self-doubt when it comes to my writing, and I realized I haven’t written unabashedly creatively for my own self expression in a very long time. And to keep me accountable, I decided to go public.
For the next 30 days I will be posting to my Instagram stories daily a little paragraph of prose to flex my creative writing muscle. I will be challenging myself to create in a way I haven’t in a long time.
And I want to challenge you, too! It doesn’t have to be writing, it can be whatever creative craft tugs at your soul. If you join in on Instagram, you can use #30daysofcreativity and tag me, @kelseyschu_. I would love to share your daily creative successes to my stories, too!
And before we go any further, remember, just taking action is success. There is no call for perfection here. There is only the ask that you give yourself a little permission to fail. And I would love to support you on that journey!
So, with that note, good morning 2021, let’s get to work.
30 Days of Creativity Reason 1: Affirm Your Love of the Craft
Some of you might be reading this and immediately think, heck yeah, it’s time to create! But maybe some of you need a little more convincing. Because we are all creative in our own ways, but it’s possible you’ve lost a sight a little bit.
So, that is why the first reason to participate (and why I am) is to affirm your love of the craft. It is so easy to forget why you love your creative specialty when it becomes part of the daily doldrums of life. Until recently, I wasn’t even aware that I forgot. I was starting to get stressed out and avoiding projects until the last possible moment. (You might notice I haven’t posted a new article on this blog for a few months)
But a couple nights ago, I was scrolling deep into my IG and realized I used to post some golden nuggets of poetic prose. And reading them back, I realized the joy I felt writing them. I wanted to create those multi-dimensional sentences, floating effortlessly above the clouds and dipping down low to skim over the surface of a lake.
Whatever the way your creative specialty makes you feel, it’s time to feel that again. Fall back into the kind of giddy love you felt in middle school when your crush smiled directly at you.
30 Days of Creativity Reason 2: Keep the Inspiration Alive
I’m just going to put it out there- creative blocks SUCK. We put our heart and soul into the work that we create, it feels like crap when we feel like we just cannot break free of whatever it is holding us back.
But the truth is that it’s those moments when we’re pushed so far out of our box that we probably end up creating the thing we’re most proud of.
This is the time to get a little Dead Poet’s Society about it. Stand on your desk, chair, roof of your house, whatever is high enough for you, and force a perspective shift. Look at the project differently. Squint your eyes and tilt your head. I’m also not speaking in metaphors here. Do it. Physically change your perspective and your mind will follow.
*Do not climb onto your roof or anywhere if it is unsafe*
So, my solution for this was to challenge myself for 30 days straight to create, specifically to write a short form prose piece, and publish it to my Instagram every day. And I would love it if you would join me. It’s doesn’t have to be writing, but anything that you feel drawn to reconnect with.
Let’s work through those blocks, an inspire ourselves like never before.
30 Days of Creativity Reason 3: Because it’s FUN
Shouldn’t this really be the only reason to ever act?
Having a toddler in my life has reminded me constantly how easy it really is to have fun. She will look at her hands and laugh. She will look at a stuffed animal in a hat and laugh. She will hold her fork up in the middle of dinner and just lose it in the deepest laughter I have ever heard.
I want my creativity to be that kind of fun. When I approach my projects, I want to feel bliss. I might be challenged, but that doesn’t mean I can’t play with it.
I’ve been writing this section listening to Miley Cyrus’s We Can’t Stop. It wasn’t intentional (thank you random sportify playlists), but it’s working for me. I don’t get it, and it’s not at all my normal writing music, but right now, I’m having fun, and why would I question that?
So, are you ready to act? Are you ready to push yourself out of whatever funk you might be feeling and challenge creativity for 30 days?
I’d love for you to join me on Instagram. You can check out the post here, and follow along every day in my stories for a daily creation from me. If you do participate, I’d love to share your daily update in my stories, too!
This is a purely for the love of the craft, and not tied to anything other than wanting to support my own and anyone else’s creativity, help to cast away any of that silly self-doubt, and give ourselves permission to fail…because you might just succeed.
If you want to take it a little further, check out my post on goal setting to make sure the steps are there for the future, or my post on creating a foundation of self-love if you feel like you need to take a little time to reconnect to yourself before moving forward.
